Heinicke impresses, but Washington comes up short vs. Bucs

— Undrafted, unheralded Taylor Heinicke took on big, bad Tom Brady — who had no idea who the QB out of Old Dominion was when they briefly were teammates a few years ago — and, while the end result went about as expected, a head-first dive for a TD sure captured everyone’s attention and imagination. “And it’s one of those things that a guy like him, that works hard at what he does — he’s created an opportunity for himself.” After Heinicke’s stretch-for-the-pylon 8-yard touchdown run pulled Washington within two points late in the third quarter, he was surrounded by enthusiastic teammates. “He was just prepared for his moment and that’s what this league’s about.” Safe to say this encounter went much better for Heinicke than the first time he ran into Brady, a six-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots who added to his NFL postseason records for most wins, TD tosses and yards passing with Saturday’s performance: 22 of 40, 381 yards, two touchdown throws. Back in September 2017, when Heinicke began a 2½ week stint on New England’s practice squad, he decided to get noticed by Brady and coach Bill Belichick by showing up waaaay early on Day 1. “He has that ‘it’ factor,” Washington right tackle Morgan Moses said, “and you just can’t teach that.” ___ More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL